Having lost just once in their last 12 league visits, history dictated that Nottingham Forest would do well at Highfield Road.

But there were periods of another entertaining, yet frustrating Sky Blue performance that suggested the home side were ready to begin trying to redress that dreadful record.

The fact that they failed was simply down to their on-going frailties in front of goal, in contrast to Forest?s clinical finishing.

The statistics tell their own story. The visitors had three shots on target and scored each time while Coventry had seven and countless off target, and scored once.

Although City were a little sluggish out of the blocks in the first half, they passed the ball about well and played some neat attacking football.

But an Andy Reid goal against the run of play, when the attacking midfielder was fed in the box and rounded Stephen Warnock before slotting home, took the wind out of their sails and things went downhill until the break as Forest upped their game and finally began to live up to their pre-season billing as a side who are once again capable of challenging for promotion.

The home side hit back in an explosive start to the second half when full-back Andrew Whing scored his first goal for the club, sparking 20 minutes of total football and giving the sense that they would go on to a comfortable victory.

City suddenly looked like the home team going for goals, as they should have done in the first half with four recognised strikers on the pitch, but a second goal from Reid, this time a sublime 30-yard drive into the top corner, knocked them off course once more before throwing caution to the wind in a bid to draw level again, only to get caught on the break.

They were also caught out as the defence attempted to play the off-side trap against David Johnson who had been played clean through by Danny Sonner who took full advantage of a poor Scott Shearer clearance to set up the devastating attack which left the striker to place the ball comfortably round the keeper.

City made two forced changes to their weekend line-up with Calum Davenport a more than competent replacement for the injured Steve Staunton in the centre of the defence and Andy Morrell starting ahead of Gary McAllister who was resting a knee injury.

The striker made an impressive full debut, running his heart out and showing great awareness and guile in and around the box up alongside Dele Adebola, while Patrick Suffo dropped into McAllister?s midfield role.

And although the Cameroonian had another lively game, his quality of passing was not quite up to the same standard as the player-manager?s and he was guilty of shooting far too often when there was a potentially better lay-off available.

Morrell?s biggest problem was not getting the service he desperately hankered after as he chased about the pitch, instinctively honing in on the goal.

When Coventry did finally manage to put the ball in the back of the net, it came from an unlikely source from the fans? point of view, but not as far as the player is concerned - the right-back having scored numerous goals at academy level prior to his meteoric rise to the first team.

Cashing in on some sloppy defending, Whing showed quick feet to find an opening deep in the box and steer the ball past Darren Ward, sparking an understandably over exuberant goal celebration which brought a yellow card for the teenager.

The equaliser was perfect timing and sparked a thrilling fight-back from City?s exciting new-look line-up that has looked so promising in the opening games of the season. But the trouble with raised expectations is that it makes defeat so much harder to swallow.

To be fair to the players, apart from backing off Reid on the hour mark, there was little they could do to stop his spectacular second which even McAllister appreciated, saying: ?It was a great goal and I would like to see it again.?

That turned the game back in Forest?s favour and less than four minutes later they had wrapped the points up when Johnson grabbed the third, having almost scored a minute earlier at the near post.

Graham Barrett came close to pulling another goal back when a 20-yard free-kick rattled off the crossbar, but the free-passing visitors had the measure of their opponents and looked comfortable on their lead for the remainder of the game.

Yazid Mansouri and Keith O?Neill, making his first appearance since December 2001, were thrown on in an attempt to pep things up in the mid-field but the injury plagued Irishman lasted just eight minutes before he signalled to the bench that his latest hamstring problem had flared up again.

He cut a sad figure as he walked visibly upset to the tunnel, facing yet another setback and more ridicule from the supporters who flooded out of the ground well before the final whistle.

The end result continued the dreadful run on home soil, with City still yet to record a league win since Boxing Day, and perhaps served as a reality check after an extremely encouraging start to the campaign, that there is still a lot more work to be done and much room for improvement.